Please make checks payable to the account
number or to the name of the fund.

The NSS has also issued its own statement about the accident:

America was built on the courage of those who dared to explore new frontiers. From Lewis and Clark to the Apollo astronauts, great men and women have tested themselves against the frontiers of their age.

In the course of their efforts, these heroes may pay the ultimate cost, as they did yesterday in Mojave. When that happens, it is the highest duty of all of us to care for the injured, to mourn the departed, and to care for the families. An honest investigation must be conducted to learn what went wrong, and to fix the cause so that it does not happen again.

But when the investigation finished, our duty is to carry on the work of those heroes, to redouble our efforts to scale the peaks that they were climbing. That is what we learned from Apollo 1. That is what they would want.

The frontier of space is far from tamed. The men and women of Scaled Composites are engaged in one of the great efforts of our time: opening space for all humanity. That is a noble pursuit, perhaps the most noble of all, and we must all be thankful for their work, and for their sacrifice.

Let us not shirk from what happened yesterday. Professionals will find the cause. The program will continue. The effort to open space cannot be stopped. Now is the time to honor those men by honoring the cause that they were engaged in. Those of us who are part of this great endeavor, whether as participants or as supporters, let us carry forward this message of perseverance to our own communities, to our elected leaders and to the media. Now more than ever, the nation needs to hear your voices.

2 comments to Scaled family support fund

According to a reliable source at the Mojave Spaceport the NOX tank was designed to be pressurized up to 18,000 PSI and it is this tank or it’s associated hardware that ruptured. There was no flame or ignition of fuel, simply a shock wave from the gas expanding. The shockwave caused concussion damage to the victims chests and the pressure was so intense it caused injuries to the skin that looked like burns.

According to my source it was lucky (if such a thing can be said) that this happened on thursday and not earlier because the lifeflight helicopters that responded were down for extended maintenance (until just hours before the incident) and would not of been able to respond.

There is so much hypocrisy in this fund request. These guys are all for the rugged individualism and entrepreneurism and private sector development until they lose employees, at which point they expect the public to help bail them out financially.

Do they not have any contingency for this? No insurance? Why should the public help out a company largely owned by Northrop Grumman amd funded by billionaire Richard Branson whose main aim is to send millionaires on joy ride into space?

Let them take care of their own. Let them deal with the liability they have for their dead and injured employees. Let them practice what they preach. It’s what “professionals” would do.

And why is NSS leading the call for financial support? Its executive director works for Scaled’s main customer Virgin Galactic. He’s asking the public to help out a company that is vital to his own fortune. Isn’t that a bit of a conflict?

I also find it odd that Peter Diamandis was out there the next day trying to reassure the public that this had nothing to do with space (testing the spacecraft engine is unrelated??) and would have no effect on the safety of SpaceShipTwo. How does he know this before the investigation even started? He may be right, but it’s premature at best to make these claims.